Bird lore - Project Puffin

need much verification by professionals
before they can form a really secure basis
for any abstract theory.
Of local lists there is one by Mr. VV. W.
Cooke, on Labrador, a continuation of
Mr. Mousley's birds of Hatley, Quebec,
and one by Mr. A. P. Smith on birds of
Kerr County, Texas. Two New Forms of
Petrels from the Bermudas Mstrelala
cahow and Ptiffinus puffinus hcrmudce arc
described by Messrs. Nichols and Mow-
bray.
The 'Auk' closes with some controver-
sial matters under 'Correspondence' and a
brief obituary notice of Daniel Giraud
Elliot, one of the most distinguished of
the men who have adorned the science of
ornithology.— J. D.
The Condor.—The March number of
'The Condor' with seven general articles
and twenty-eight illustrations presents an
unusually varied and interesting series of
subjects. A remarkable set of photographs
of 'Sea Gulls at the Panama-Pacific
International Exposition' taken by Joseph
Mailliard shows the abundance and tame-
ness of the half-dozen species of these
birds which formed a characteristic feature
of the exposition.
Mrs. Bailey's 'Birds of the Dakota
Prairie' is continued with an account of the
birds observed on the lakes. The Whitewinged
Scoter, at its southernmost breed-
ing-place on Stump Lake, N. D., naturally
receives special attention, but the habits of
the Black Tern, Franklin's Gull and several
species of Ducks are also mentioned.
A unique account of the little-known
'Farallon Rails of San Diego County' is
given by Huey, based on seven years of
observation. Among several interesting
facts may be mentioned that the birds
seem to be resident in this region, that
their food consists largely of an Isopod
crustacean {Allonisctis mirahilis), that the
number of eggs varies from 4 to 8, and the
nesting dates extend from March 24 to
May 25.
Two interesting life-history papers will
Book News and Reviews 1S7
be found in M. P. Skinner's 'Nutcrackers
of Yellowstone Park' and W. C. New-
berry's 'Chapter in the Life History of the
Wren Tit.' Skinner notes that Nutcrackers
combine the peculiar habits of Wood-
peckers, Crows, and Jays. They will eat
anything, and in the Park "build their
nests in February and bring forth their
naked young in March, long before the
snow has left the ground." The eggs are
laid about March i, and incubation lasts
twenty-two days. The Wren-Tit, although
an abundant bird in the hills about
Berkeley, Calif., is so secretive in its nest-
ing-habits that its eggs are seldom seen.
In a nest under observation in 1915, the
set of three eggs was completed April 2,
the young hatched April 20, and left the
nest May 6, indicating that incubation
lasts eighteen days and the j'oung remain
in the nest only about sixteen days.
A local list comprising notes on 'Some
Species of Land Birds of Tillamook
County, Oregon,' is contributed byjewett,
based on observations made on eighty
species during the last three years.
Howell contributes to the discussion of
vernacular names a short note in the form
of an objection to the term .Audubon
Canyon Wren as a substitute for Dotted
Canyon Wren. He suggests instead the
name Ridgway's Canyon Wren, in honor
of the describer, with the explanation
"why not be uniform and call the birds
either after the describer, or as those
gentlemen intended they should be
named."
Under the caption 'The New Museum of
Comparative Oology,' Dawson outlines
an ambitious plan for a museum at Santa
Barbara, Calif., which while giving special
attention to Oology will be devoted to the
advancement of ornithology in its broadest
sense. The keynote of the new institution
is cooperation and the plan which may
require twenty-five years for its realization
—
calls for the construction of buildings
which will cost $150,000 and an endowment
fund of over half a million dollars.
T. S. P.